drones

one with drones, missiles and ships burning

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In the 1980s, during the conflict between Iran and Iraq, an American oil tanker was sailing through the Persian Gulf when a missile hit against his helmet without warning. For hours, the crew struggled to maintain control of the ship as it burned in the middle of one of the most strategic shipping routes on the planet, leaving a scene that surprised many analysts: even in apparently “protected” corridors, a single unexpected attack was enough to turn commercial transit into an high risk operation. The plan and the beginning of a new phase. It we counted yesterday. The United States launched an operation to free the ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz, and did so by creating a kind of “safe” corridor without escort but under dense military cover that includes destroyers, aircraft carriers, more than 100 aircraft and thousands of troops, with the intention of reestablishing the commercial flow without resorting to direct escorts. The initiative sought to unblock a situation that keeps tens of thousands of sailors Nearly 1,000 paralyzed ships have already been detained, in a context where Washington is trying to balance military pressure and diplomatic output, while presenting the operation as defensive and coordinated with the maritime industry to encourage gradual transit through the area. The Iranian response. Iran has reacted immediate and calculatedunfolding a combination of drones, cruise missiles and attacks with speedboats that turn each transit attempt into an episode of maximum tension. In this case it is not a classic head-on collision, but rather a strategy designed to wear out, intimidate and complicate the American operation without necessarily crossing the threshold of total war. In this way, every movement in the strait is answered with distributed threats that force defensive systems to be activated continuously, generating a feeling of constant vulnerability even under the most sophisticated military umbrella. A strait turned into a geographical and tactical trap. As since the beginning of the war, the physical environment of Hormuz multiplies the dangerwith reduced distances that shorten the reaction time of anti-missile systems and an extensive coast from which attacks can be launched almost without warning. Hidden positions, drones at different levels, naval mines and light craft create an ecosystem multi-threat which calls into question the ability of any force to completely control the area. In this scenario, even advanced platforms face a critical challenge– Respond in seconds to simultaneous attacks coming from land, sea and air. The United Arab Emirates enters the line of fire. The crisis has ended up spilling directly to the United Arab Emirateswhich have suffered attacks with missiles and drones supposedly launched from Iranian territory against ships and strategic areas close to their ports. Emirati air defenses have reportedly intercepted multiple projectiles, although some incidents have led to boat fires and limited damage, raising the tension in one of the main energy hubs of the region. There is no doubt, this front expands the conflict beyond the strait and confirms that Iranian pressure is not limited to maritime traffic, but also seeks to impact key infrastructure to increase the political and economic cost of the US operation. The key role of helicopters and layered defense. Faced with this form of war, the United States has resorted to flexible tools like attack helicopters Apache and Seahawk, capable of detecting and neutralizing fast threats such as Iranian boats (Washington claims to have sunk six in the last few hours) before they approach commercial vessels. These assets are integrated into a layered defense which includes electronic warfare, aerial surveillance and interception systems, creating a dynamic shield that has already proven effective by shooting down drones and missiles on multiple occasions. That being said, this defense does not eliminate the riskbut manages it, maintaining constant pressure on the deployed forces. Trump between containment and escalation. On the political level, Donald Trump moves in a delicate balance between responding forcefully to Iranian provocations and avoiding an escalation that leads to open conflict. counted the wall street journal that the US president’s strategy at this time combines demonstrations of power with attempts to keep diplomatic channels open, while receiving internal pressure to act more forcefully. This ambiguity reflects the difficulty to manage a crisis in which every decision can tip the balance towards a broader war or an uncertain negotiation. A pulse that redefines the control of global trade. Beyond the immediate confrontationwhat is at stake is the effective control of one of the most important trade routes in the world, where Iran has shown that it can block or make more expensive transit without the need for a conventional fleet, while the United States tries to impose an indirect protection model that depends on the trust of shipping companies and third countries. The result is diametrically opposite to “plan A” ship release, with an unstable balance in which there are now burned and sunken ships, explosions and constant attacks coexist with attempts to normalize traffic, reflecting that new reality in which maritime warfare is no longer decided only by the large fleets of yesteryear, but by the ability to saturate, intimidate and sustain pressure at a critical point on the global map. Image | USN In Xataka | The strangest plan of the war is ready: guide the 1,000 ships trapped in Hormuz hoping that no one will shoot In Xataka | After gasoline, the war in Iran is about to skyrocket the price of something just as painful: your Zara clothes

a plane that shoots drones

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During the Afghanistan Warthe Soviet forces resorted on more than one occasion to adapt helicopters and airplanes transport for improvised functions in combat, from close support to surveillance platforms navy. Then they made it clear that even in highly structured armies, the need on the battlefield forces them to reinvent machines that were never designed to fight. An unlikely plane that changes the rules. In the midst of a war largely dominated by drones, Ukraine has found an unexpected solution in a Soviet-era relic: the Antonov An-28a light transport aircraft that has been transformed or “tuned” into something completely different. Far from its original function, this twin-engine now acts as an unprecedented aerial offensive platform capable to launch interceptor drones from its wings, becoming a kind of improvised “drone carrier.” This adaptation is not an isolated experiment, but part of an accelerated evolution in which old systems they reinvent themselves to respond to modern threats, giving rise to a key idea: air combat no longer depends only on missiles, but also on cheaper, more flexible and replicable systems. From ammunition to drones. Until recently, An-28 crews were dedicated to shooting down enemy drones with machine guns from the aircraft itself, a rudimentary but effective tactic that had already achieved hundreds of kills in battle. However, the qualitative leap comes when integrating interceptor drones like the P1-Sun either the AS-3 Surveyor under its wings, devices capable of pursuing and destroying objectives autonomously or guided. In this way, the plane is no longer just a direct hunter, but a range multiplier which deploys “cheap missiles” in the form of drones, capable of impacting or detonating near the target, greatly expanding the possibilities of interception. The economy as a weapon. One of the most determining factors of this innovation is, again, the cost. It we have counted before: faced with enemy drones or missiles that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, Ukrainian interceptors are significantly cheaperespecially if they are produced on a large scale. This difference changes the logic of combat, because it is no longer about spending more to defend yourself, but rather about finding ways to neutralize threats. at lower cost. Not only that. The An-28 It also allows you to bring closer those interceptors at the target, launching them from height and speed, which improves their effectiveness and reduces reaction time, reinforcing a more sustainable air defense. A more flexible and extended air shield. There is no doubt, the use of the airplane as an aerial platform offers quite clear operational advantages. can patrol for long periodsquickly position yourself in risk areas or even operate from improvised runways thanks to its short takeoff capacity. Besides, combine multiple tools: drones, light weapons and potentially other systems, creating an adaptable defense against different types of threats. In a context where Russia produces thousands of drones per month and develops increasingly faster models, this flexibility becomes essential to maintain balance on the battlefield. Towards a new air combat doctrine. If you also want, what is happening with the An-28 is not just a tactical adaptation, but an indication of where modern warfare is headed. The idea of ​​launching drones from other platforms, whether airplanes, helicopters or even unmanned systems, opens the door to a combat model much more distributedwhere multiple layers of defense work in a coordinated manner. Seen this way, in the new scenario the value does not reside solely in power or sophistication, but in the ability to combine simple, scalable and economical solutions to counter massive threats, redefining what was understood until now as the traditional concept of air superiority. Image | Wild Hornets In Xataka | Russia has an unprecedented enemy in the Ukrainian war: Japan has just landed with a weapon to take down its shaheds In Xataka | Ukraine has recalled the weapon used with Stalin to convince the US: literally, turning Donbas into “Donnyland”

Now we know that the Iranian Air Force did to the US what Ukraine could not do to Russia with drones: an abysmal hole

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During the Vietnam War, American commanders discovered that some of their most protected bases they could be hit unexpectedly due to coordinated attacks low costforcing to reinforce defenses that until then were considered sufficient and making it clear that, in war, the feeling of security is usually more fragile than it seems. The blow that no one expected. For decades, the US military architecture in the Middle East relied on in a network of bases designed to surround and contain Iran, a direct heir to the Cold War doctrine and designed to project power quickly. However, a report that came to light this weekend on NBC News has revealed a radical inversion of that logic in the war of 2026: what was supposed to be a shield has become a set of exposed objectives, hit in a coordinated manner by Iranian attacks that hit more than a hundred targets in several countries. We are talking about critical infrastructures such as runways, radars, hangars, command centers or defense systems were damaged or destroyed, and the impact was neither marginal nor symbolic, but structuralaffecting the very functioning of the US deployment in the region. The fence that ended up surrounded. The system of bases in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the Emirates or Saudi Arabia was designed to suffocate Iran, but its ability to attack key logistics nodes turned the equation around. How much? It appears that critical facilities were left disabled or evacuatedincluding the headquarters of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrainwhile multiple bases in Iraq and Kuwait had to be abandoned or rendered inoperative. The pressure was such that even the resupply became problematicleaving the American forces themselves in a position close to the siege they intended to impose. The encirclement strategy, which seemed unquestionable for decades, suddenly showed its fragility in the face of an adversary with saturation capacity through missiles, drones and aviation. The hole that changes war. What is most revealing is not only the extent of the damage, but what they represent for Washington: for the first time in years, a rival has managed to systematically drill US military infrastructure at multiple points at once. Iran not only hit bases, but achieved something that until now seemed beyond the reach of other recent conflicts: opening a deep and sustained hole in the defensive framework of the United States, affecting radarsair defenses and strategic assets. That ability to simultaneously degrade multiple layers of the system is reminiscent of what other actors have tried unsuccessfully in wars like the one in Ukraine, but here it translated in real effects on the ground, altering the operational balance and forcing us to rethink the assumed superiority. From control to operational chaos. The middle counted American that the intensity of the attacks and the speed with which they occurred generated a scenario of disorganization that overwhelmed the usual command and control mechanisms. Bases evacuatedemergency relocated personnel and even improvised situations what do we countsuch as the use of civil infrastructure, reflect the extent to which operational pressure broke the planned patterns. Plus: the inability to anticipate and managing the real scope of the attacks, added to the lack of clear communication about the damage, fueled the perception of an overwhelmed response to a type of more distributed warfaster and harder to contain. A cost beyond money. Although initial estimates speak of billions dollars in repairs (not counting advanced systems or unrecoverable equipment), the true impact possibly transcends the economic. What has been affected is the military deployment model itself: the idea that a network of advanced bases guarantees regional control. In other words, the war has shown that, faced with an adversary capable of to attack in depth with means relatively accessiblethis hitherto untouchable network may become a rather critical vulnerability. The result in the pavement American is not only a balance sheet of damages, but a strategic warning that forces us to give more than one turn to its scheme of how military power is projected in a world where distance is already does not protect the same. Image | x In Xataka | If the war resumes again, the US runs a risk unprecedented in the history of war: that the only one with missiles will be Iran. In Xataka | If the question is why the US attacked an Iranian ship with a weapon unprecedented in 40 years, we already know the answer: a “gift from China”

China already knows how to keep a fleet of drones in the air indefinitely. The problem is that there are too many problems

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Wireless charging in everyday devices It is a resource that provides comfort. In other areas, wireless and remote charging implies a much more powerful advantage: supremacy over a rival. That is precisely what China is testing, how to maintain a drone fleet flying almost indefinitely thanks to a microwave charge injected from a ground system. And they are not the only ones. In short. A few days ago, Chinese scientists from Xidian University published a peer-reviewed article in the journal Aeronautical Science & Technology in which they presented a system microwave emitter that could send energy to an array of antennas installed on the top of a drone to charge the vehicle’s battery in mid-flight. The most important thing is that it works while the ground vehicle and the drone are moving, which eliminates the need for a stationary charge that would make no sense from a strategic point of view. Image of Xidian University How it works. For the system to work, and as we read in SCMPthe researchers integrated a GPS positioning system that allowed a drone and a ground vehicle to be aligned. On the ground there is the microwave emitter and the drone has a series of antennas at the bottom that collect the energy. In tests, the system kept fixed-wing drones in the air for up to 3.1 hours at an altitude of 15 meters. The great challenge was maintaining the alignment between the drone and the ground vehicle to maximize the load, but once the obstacle with the GPS system was overcome, the drone can stay in the air depending only on the vehicle’s fuel. On the other hand, we are approaching it from the point of view of indefinite autonomy, but such a system would also allow drones to have less battery (which, in the end, adds weight) and have more carrying capacity. The BIG asterisk. Defense analysts liken it to a “land-based aircraft carrier” in which an armored vehicle on the ground is both the command and power node, monitoring, charging and providing logistical support to the drones in a manner similar to that of a aircraft carrier It is the lifeline of manned fighters. However, the system has a huge problem: it is extremely inefficient. The Xidian team estimates that the efficiency of the microwave ‘cannon’ is between 3 and 5%. It’s… ridiculous, which means that the vast majority of the energy emitted is simply wasted. Why not a laser? It’s the big question. A laser system is more precise and has a longer range, which opens the doors to other types of missions. However, being a beam of light and not directly the energy that we launch, the laser is very sensitive to interference such as fog and dust. Also, think of the laser as a precision rifle and the microwave as a shotgun: any turbulence or bump in the road would affect the beam, but microwave energy has a wider range of action. China is not alone. Chinese analysts point out that it is a promising concept, but also something that is very far from being able to be applied to satisfy an immediate operational need. What it is, is one more step to find that way to get those drones that are appearing to be a very valuable element on the battlefield, as the wars in Ukraine and Iran, unfortunately, are demonstrating. The advance is important because Xidian has time working in the theoretical framework of the technology, but it is now that they have carried out a successful field test. Now, they are not alone, since the American agency DARPA is experimenting with radio frequency and laser to charge drones remotely, and in Germany, Rheinmetall is also developing wireless charging platforms for unmanned ground vehicles, although in this case, the drones are perched on a platform. In Xataka | Sending electricity without cables seemed like a thing of the future. DARPA has done it again, and the test has turned out better than expected

The Pentagon wants to invest $54 billion in drones. It is more than the entire military budget of countries like Ukraine

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The defense budget that the Pentagon has presented for fiscal year 2027 amounts to $1.5 trillion. It is the largest year-on-year increase in military spending since World War II, but in that colossal figure there is another that deserves special attention. This is the $53.6 billion allocated exclusively to drones and autonomous warfare technologies. That amount alone exceeds the Ukraine’s full defense budget either of countries like South Korea or Italy. Spain is even further away. autonomous defense. The money for this specific program will be managed by the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group (DAWG), an agency created at the end of 2025. In the 2026 budget it received 226 million dollars, but in 2027 that figure would be multiplied almost by 240. The United States has realized the relevance that drones have gained in war conflicts and wants to be prepared for this new era of defense. Obsolete investment. The Pentagon itself recognized something striking: the vast majority of the money requested will be used to buy technology that already exists, not to develop future solutions. One of the top officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General Steven Whitney, admitted that technological evolution on the battlefield currently happens in weeks, not years. It’s like admitting that what you buy now may become obsolete almost immediately. Ukraine showed that change has changed. The urgency of this budget does not come from nowhere. The war in Ukraine has rewritten the rules of modern combat In such a way that there are many countries that are processing how to assume these changes. Iranian Shahed droneswhich cost about $20,000 per unit, have proven capable of saturating air defense systems that cost hundreds of times more. Relatively affordable quadcopter drones have destroyed multi-million euro tanks and armored vehicles. Defense budgets in 2025. The US already spent 921 billion dollars last year, this year it wants to spend 50% more. Everything goes very fast. The speed of tactical adaptation on the Ukrainian front has been so high that innovations and tactics that work in January may be obsolete by March. Not because someone has invented something better, but because the adversary has found a way to counter those strategies. The Pentagon has reached an unusual conclusion: the traditional model of weapons acquisition that operated in cycles of years or even decades is structurally incompatible with the speed at which current war conflicts are developing. The irony of the Shahed. Among the most striking details of the budget is the confirmation that the American army has adapted the technology of the Iranian Shahed dronewhich is the same one that has been attacking cities and energy infrastructures in Ukraine for years. The US has done reverse engineering of your adversary’s design to incorporate it into your own arsenal. This clearly illustrates the current war reality: the origin of the technology does not matter, but its effectiveness. Risks. This tension between “we have to spend more” and the speed at which it is necessary to adapt to this reality poses an enormous risk. Buy en masse what works today guarantees that solutions will be available tomorrow. The problem is that these solutions may be technically inferior to those that the adversary has developed in the meantime. The same thing happens if you decide not to buy anything until you have the perfect technology, because that means arriving late (or not arriving at all). It is a dilemma similar to that of technology companies and their investment in infrastructure: they have to buy solutions now that they know that they will end up being obsolete in the short or medium term. Final approval is missing. The US Congress will have to approve the budget, which introduces an important political variable. Beyond that, there is a fundamental question in those 54,000 million in this budget. If drone technology evolves in weeks, there is no money that will be able to buy that adaptability to the modern battlefield. And that even with this immense budget superiority cannot be guaranteed makes clear the sign of the times. In Xataka | The percentage of GDP that each country allocates to Defense, shown in this graph with an unavoidable protagonist

From printing drones to looking at lasers. 300 reports have revealed that Iran’s battle manual has one name: Ukraine

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Barely a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, groups of volunteers began to assemble drones fighting in improvised workshops using parts purchased online and open manuals, managing to put operating systems on the air in a matter of days. The scene, closer to a technological garage than a military factory, reflected the extent to which modern warfare was about to change without making almost noise. Ukraine as a war manual. I told it a few hours ago in exclusive to the Financial Times. The war in Ukraine has become a central reference for Iranian military thinking, to the point that much of its current doctrine is being built on what is happening there. That has now been known through more than 300 reports prepared in military centers that analyze everything from industrial production in conflict to tactical adaptation in the face of a superior enemy. This effort is not theoretical, but applied: there is great number of manualstraining and planning that have been updated to incorporate direct lessons from the battlefield in a process that reveals a clear idea, that the future of war is already written in Ukraine and that, possibly, those who do not study it will be late. From cheap drones to doctrine. One of the most decisive learnings we have been counting these years: the role of low cost dronescapable of changing the balance of forces with a completely different logic from the traditional one, where volume and price weigh as much as precision. Iran has understood that cheap systems, produced even with commercial components and accessible techniques such as 3D printing, can overwhelm advanced defenses and exploit structural weaknesses of technologically superior armies, replicating a model that has already proven effective in both Ukraine and in their own confrontations recent. The problem of the West. Not only that. The expansion of these drones has exposed a critical gap in Western defenses, designed to intercept expensive and sophisticated threatsbut not massive waves of cheap systems, which has generated an obvious economic imbalance. While a drone can cost tens of thousands of dollars, intercepting it is the opposite and can involve missiles in the equation. extremely more expensivecreating financial and logistical wear and tear that has already become visible in recent conflicts, where spending skyrockets and arsenals begin to become dangerously strained. Beyond the present: AI and emerging weapons. Featured in an interactive special The New York Times that, however, Iranian learning has not stopped in the immediate present, but rather projects the conflict into the future, incorporating into its planning technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare or even emerging systems such as directed energy weapons. The own internal analysis They point to the need to integrate these advances in decision making, weapons guidance and combat management, in a transition that seeks not only to adapt, but to anticipate the next phase of the technological conflict. An evolving doctrine. There is no doubt, this change is also doctrinal, with a commitment to more units agile, decentralized and capable to operate with greater autonomy, inspired by the way in which Ukraine has managed to resist and adapt to a more powerful adversary such as Russia. If you like, what the combination of operational flexibility and accessible technology is doing is redefining the concept of superiority military, moving it away from large platforms and towards distributed and resilient systems that can evolve quickly, and there the massive use of FPV drones appears with its own name. From Ukraine to Iran. Ultimately, all of this results in a profound transformation in the way in which Iran conceives warone where Ukraine acts as a real reference manual of battle that guides from the manufacture of cheap drones to the ambition of integrating artificial intelligence and more advanced systems such as lasers. From that perspective, it is not just about copying each Ukrainian step, but about adapting, scaling and combining solutions to build our own strategy that turns kyiv’s experience into future advantage, in a scenario where we are already seeing that rapid innovation and low cost can outweigh the most sophisticated technology from the United States. Image | RawPixelWild Hornets In Xataka | China was the power that launched drones. Now he has realized his danger with a decision: close the sky to them In Xataka | While everyone was looking at the Middle East, North Korea has had time to do what Iran has not been able to: go nuclear.

China was the power that launched drones. Now he has realized his danger with a decision: close the sky to them

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Exactly 10 years ago an unprecedented event occurred. A small drone landed without authorization in the White House garden after its operator loses control. It didn’t have explosives or sophisticated cameras, but it was enough to activate a complete security protocol and put the authorities on alert for hours. That apparently trivial incident was an announcement to sailors. The drone empire closes its sky. It remains a paradox that China, the great dominatrix of the global drone market with millions of devices in circulation and leading companies like DJI, be the same power that has started to drastically restrict its use within its borders. Yes, I counted a few days ago the new york times that the new rules require register each device with real identity, link it to personal data and transmit real-time flight information to the government. Flying without authorization can lead to fines, confiscations and even prison sentences, and in cities like Beijing the ban is almost total, to the point of preventing the sale or entry of drones into the capital. Total control of airspace. Thus, the regulatory tightening It has turned what was once a recreational or professional activity into a terrain full of obstacles. In practice, much of the urban space is left out of use, with permits having to be requested in advance and rarely granted. In fact, users throughout the country have denounced interrogations, sanctions and confiscations even on flights that they consider legal, while some claim to receive calls from the police as soon as they turn on their devices. The result is a paralyzing effect: the sky is still full of drones in theory, but in practice fewer and fewer take off. Security, fear and Ukraine and Iran. Behind this shift is an easy-to-understand key factor: modern warfare. has shown that drones are no longer toys, but combat actors of first order. Recent conflicts have made it clear that even cheap models can monitor, attack or alter critical infrastructuresomething that especially worries Beijing in terms of internal security. The possibility of these devices being used against sensitive infrastructure or even political leaders has accelerated a response that seeks to eliminate any margin for improvisation in the air. The economics of low altitude. Paradoxically, the Times said that the tightening comes just when China wants to expand the commercial use of drones in what it calls “low altitude economy”. The objective is to turn them into key tools for logistics, agriculture, industrial inspection or light transportation. But to achieve this, the government considers it essential to first impose absolute control of airspace, like someone reorganizing a city before opening it to mass traffic. The problem: that this previous order is suffocating the ecosystem that it aims to promote. The final dilemma. If you like, the result is a contradiction that is difficult to resolve in Beijing: the nation that raised and built the global drone industry is limiting its use by the danger they perceive to the point of stopping innovation, business and adoption. Companies see sales fall, the second-hand market grows and entrepreneurs abandon projects due to the impossibility of operating. Meanwhile, some experts warn of another unexpected consequence: restricting access too much may prevent training future operators, just when the world is heading towards wars and economies where knowing how to handle a drone will be a strategic skill. Image | Infinity 0 In Xataka | China just showed the world what comes after the combat drone: 96 drones with a science fiction launch In Xataka | 200 drones in the hands of a single soldier: China is advancing very quickly in a type of war that seemed like science fiction

The United Kingdom has a laser capable of shooting down drones flying at 650 km/h. And each shot is the same as two beers.

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For some time now, armies have pursued an idea: weapons that fire energy instead of projectiles. Already in the Cold War was experienced with systems capable of concentrating heat at a distance, although technical limitations relegated them to tests and prototypes for years. Today, with advances in electrical generation and beam control, that ambition has begun to emerge from the laboratory, although it still entailed challenges that for a long time seemed impossible to solve. The UK seems to have solved the most important one. From the laboratory to real combat. He DragonFire program marks a turning point in the evolution of directed energy weapons, and it does so by going from technological demonstrator to embedded operating system. The United Kingdom has decided to accelerate its deployment until 2027integrating it into Type 45 destroyers and becoming the first European country from NATO in deploying a functional naval laser. There is no doubt, the movement is not only technological, but also doctrinal, because it implies changing the way in which air defense at sea is conceived, integrating new layers that do not depend on traditional ammunition. Two beers for the price of a shot. The key element of DragonFire is not only its accuracy, but rather its economy. Each shot costs just about 10 pounds (just over 11 euros) in electricity, just a couple of “pints” in a pub compared to the hundreds of thousands that a conventional interceptor missile can cost, which completely alters the balance between attack and defense. we had seen it in Ukraine and now in Iran. In a scenario where cheap drones are launched by the dozens or hundreds, responding with expensive missiles had become unsustainable, while a laser allows the pace to be maintained. without depleting critical resources. This difference makes the laser an especially attractive tool in modern conflicts where saturation is more important than sophistication. Extreme precision and new capabilities. The system has proven capable of hitting targets the size of a coin a kilometer away, maintaining the beam on moving targets until causing structural failure. More: its architecture combines multiple fiber lasers in a single high-quality beam, guided by electro-optical sensors and continuous tracking systems. Furthermore, its sustained firing capability eliminates one of the main limitations of conventional weapons: need to rechargeallowing you to take on multiple threats consecutively in a matter of seconds. The response to swarms. The rise of cheap drones and swarm attacks has put in check to traditional defense systems, designed to intercept more limited and higher value threats. DragonFire positions itself as the direct response to that change, offering an effective solution against small, fast and numerous targets without compromising missile arsenals intended for strategic threats. In this context, the laser does not replace existing systems, but rather complements themreinforcing short-range defense and freeing up resources for more complex scenarios. From sea to air and land. Beyond its naval deployment, the program aims for broader integration in ground and aerial platformswhich infers a structural change in modern weaponry. Let us think that the possibility of standardizing this type of technology in vehicles, ships or even combat fighters opens the door to a new generation of systems where energy progressively replaces to physical ammunition. Analysts recalled by Army Recognition that although there are still limitations (such as the need for line of sight, electrical power and thermal management), the advancement of DragonFire indicates that that concept before fantastic of “infinite ammunition” has ceased to be a theoretical idea and has become an operational reality in development. Image | UK Ministry of Defense In Xataka | Spain has built a laser that shields the backbone of its Navy: the A400M is now ready for combat In Xataka | China has achieved something hard to believe: reducing the production of laser weapons and parts for electric cars to one second

Neither drones nor missiles nor AI, the war in Ukraine has turned a vehicle from 1950 into a key piece: the M113

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Some of the most produced military vehicles in history exceed 80,000 units manufactured and remain in service in dozens of countries decades after their design. In many cases, their longevity is not due to their power, but to something much simpler: that they simply work, are easy to repair, and never completely disappear. An unexpected veteran. While the algorithms and drones freelancers starred on all the covers of war innovationsin recent times the war in Ukraine has turned in key piece to a vehicle from the 1950s as it was the M113and that says much more about the conflict than any next-generation system. On a battlefield dominated by advanced technology, this armored transport has resurfaced not because it is the most powerful, but because it fits better than anyone else in a war of attrition where the important thing is not sophistication, but the ability to resist, move and continue operating day after day. Simple wins. The M113 was designed for another timebut its qualities (mobility, mechanical simplicity and ease of production) make it have converted surprisingly effective in Ukraine. The reason: in an environment saturated with drones and artillery, where any vehicle can be destroyed in seconds, the key is not so much to survive everything as to be able to be repaired quickly and return to the front. Its ability to operate off-road, transport troops or even drones and adapt with improvised protections makes it a versatile tool in a conflict where conditions are constantly changing. Drones and the rules. The truth is that the proliferation of drones has reduced the usefulness of many traditional systems, including heavy tanks, forcing both sides to rethink how they move and fight. In this context, the M113 does not stand out for its weapons, but for its logistical function: carry soldiers, equipment or drones to forward positions. War, from that perspective, is no longer decided so much by direct fire, but by who manages to best position their resources in an environment monitored from the air, and there this vehicle fits perfectly. Russian “Giga Turtle” captured by Ukrainians Meanwhile, Russia adapts in its own way. On the other side of the front, in recent weeks Russia has attempted to respond with radically different solutions, such as the return of called “giga turtle”in essence, over-armored versions of tanks designed to resist drone attacks. Huge and slow, these machines prioritize protection over mobility, making them easier targets despite their toughness. His reappearance reflects the same conclusion that has been imposed on the battlefield: vehicles are still necessary, but they must adapt to a constant threat from the air. War of attrition and quantity. Ultimately, the success of the M113 It also has to do with something much more basic: that there is a glarge amount of stock available for these models. Thousands of units produced over decades allow Ukraine to quickly replace losses in a war where attrition is brutal. In other words, compared to more expensive and scarce modern systems, this vehicle offers something essential for the fight: continuity. In an extremely slow conflict that is already measured in years, it is not whoever has the most advanced weapon who wins, but whoever can continue fighting the longest. The real change is conceptual. If you like, all this points to a deeper conclusion: the war in Ukraine is not necessarily rewarding the newest, but rather the most useful in an extreme context. AND the M113 symbolizes this change like few others, where cutting-edge technology coexists with solutions from another era that they still work because they respond better to the real needs of combat. In a scenario dominated by drones, sensors and constant fire, the key is not so much to reinvent warfare, but to adapt to it, even if that means returning to vehicles designed more than half a century ago. Image | Armed Forces In Xataka | While everyone was looking at Iran, a drone has made a hole so big that it seems impossible to cover it: the one in the roof of Chernobyl In Xataka | Russia is building its largest warship in the Black Sea. You know it, we know it and the Ukrainian drones know it

drones attacking North Dakota nuclear bases

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The United States’ nuclear strategy has long been based on the so-called “triad”a system that combines submarines, land-based missiles and bombers to ensure responsiveness even in the worst possible scenario. The model, designed in the middle of the Cold War, assumed that the continental territory was practically inaccessible to direct threats, which allowed the defense to be concentrated abroad and not so much on protecting each installation within the country. Until the drones have arrived. An unprecedented attack on the nuclear heart. What happened, according to what they said several analystsis that while the United States bombs Iran in its large-scale operation, something completely unexpected is happening within its own territory. Drone waves They have flown over key bases linked to the US nuclear arsenal. Apparently, these were not isolated incidents or improvised devices. They were coordinated incursions, repeated attacks for days that have forced stop critical operations and activate emergency protocols. For the first time, in the middle of a war, strategic installations on American soil were directly affected by a persistent aerial threat. Barksdale, the critical point. The most striking case occurred in the Barksdale Air Force Baseone of the pillars of the United States nuclear system. Strategic bombers operate there and long-range missiles are stored, making the facility a key node within the country’s deterrence capacity. For several days, the swarms of drones They have flown over the base in organized waves, forcing interrupt bomber sorties who participated in the attacks on Iran. The scene, more typical of a movie, has been difficult to ignore: while the B-52s prepared to project force thousands of kilometers, the airspace above their own runways was committed. Advanced drones. The most worrying thing was not only the presence of these drones, but its technological level. They counted on ABCNews that the devices showed a remarkable resistance to electronic interference, used variable entry and exit routes and operated in dispersed patterns that made them difficult to track. In fact, countermeasures designed to neutralize these types of threats they didn’t work as expected. This suggests that these are not tailored trading systems, but rather platforms much more sophisticatedcapable of operating with partial or total autonomy and collecting information in highly protected environments. More than a physical threat. There is no doubt, these drones not only represent a risk for Washington due to their potential attack capacity, but also due to the type of information that they can get. When flying over critical facilities, they can map electronic emissionsidentify operating patterns and photograph sensitive infrastructure. In other words, they can build a detailed portrait of how a strategic base works from within. And this opens the door to much more precise and effective future attacks, as it turns each raid into a highly valuable reconnaissance mission. Structural vulnerability in national territory. They remembered on TWZ that the raids are not limited to a single point or a specific moment. They have registered similar episodes at other key bases, including strategic bomber-related facilities and advanced technology development centers. In many cases, these infrastructures they lack systems adequate air defense systems against drones, which forces us to rely on improvised or developing solutions. What’s more, even with new tools deployed, the ability to neutralize these threats remains limited and uneven. The strategic paradox. The contrast is more than evident. The United States maintains an unprecedented global military capability and can project force virtually anywhere on the planet. However, at the same time, shows difficulties to fully protect sour own facilities against relatively small, but technologically advanced threats. This paradox reveals a mismatch that already we saw in Ukraine and now in Iranone between traditional defense architecture and new forms of warfare, where cheap and difficult to detect systems can generate disproportionate effects. Paradigm shift underway. In short, what happened, for unpublishedpoints to a deeper transformation in the way military security is understood. Not even the bases, silos and strategic infrastructures of a superpower like the United States can considered safe spaces by the mere fact of being in national territory. Because the combination of advanced drones, sensors and electronic warfare is taking the conflict directly to the heart of powers. And that implies, or opens the disturbing possibility, that the next great battle will not only be fought abroad, but also in the ability to protect what until now was taken for granted. Image | USAF, Airman 1st Class Benjamin Gonsier In Xataka | Iran has turned Hormuz into the entrance to a VIP nightclub. And Spain enters the guest list and the US stays at the door In Xataka | Iran and Russia had been silently exchanging drones and material in the Caspian Sea for months: Israel has just revealed it

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